The images are striking and capture the full breadth of the Latino community—children laughing, young adults preening and posing and elders smiling, yet watchful and pensive. Young Americanos: Photographic Visions of Our Community seems quite simple on its face: just a wonderful collection of photographs taken by children in five Latino communities.

But as I made my way through the exhibition, I was struck by the choices made—and not made—by the young photographers in selecting their subjects. They pointed their cameras at their families, their friends, their neighborhoods, their realities. When I finished, I had a strong feeling that somehow Latinos in this country had turned a corner and it had everything to do with how we see ourselves and how we now have a greater ability to shape the images of our communities transmitted through popular media.

A Separate Reality
I grew up in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1960s. Watching television programs during the so-called "golden age" of TV, I never saw my reality reflected on the small screen. In my family, father really did know best, but his job did not require him to wear a suit or carry a briefcase like the famous television character.

I saw no public servants, newsmakers or news reporters who looked like any relative of mine. Even worse, I could feel the tension of my parents whenever a crime was reported, and the relief that followed when it became apparent the perpetrator was not Latino.

As we learned through the famous doll experiments of social psychologists Kenneth Bancroft Clark and his wife, Mamie Phipps Clark, a lack of positive images of a particular racial or ethnic group has a powerfully detrimental effect on children – how they feel about themselves and their communities. (In the 1950s, the Clarks conducted tests in which children were given a black doll and a white doll and asked to select the one they preferred. Most black children not only preferred the white doll, they also attributed the most positive characteristics to them. The Clark research played a significant role in Brown v Board of Education, the case that ended public school segregation in 1954.)

I saw this reality first-hand, at a young age. When my older sister was 16 years old, she thought she'd look great as a blonde. After all, the quintessential American beauty at that time was Marilyn Monroe and she was blonde. Needless to say, my parents intervened and my sister's hair stayed its natural dark brown color. But I never forgot that our "Mexican-ness" was somehow an impediment to meeting the standards of beauty accepted by society.

How we see ourselves reflected back through the powerful images conveyed by mass media directly affects how we calculate our standing in society as well as how we judge others. It's commonly understood that the negative stereotypes of racial and ethnic minorities in this country have had a profound impact on self-esteem for members of those communities.

When I had a chance to work at Detroit's public television station in the early 1970s, I jumped at the opportunity to create programming that not only addressed issues of concern to the local Latino community, but more importantly, projected positive and competent role models. I wanted to be part of the process that took our young people from wanting to look like Marilyn Monroe and selecting only the white dolls to a place where we're at ease with who we are and how we look.

Look How Far We've Come
The Young Americanos exhibition illustrates how far the Latino community has come in the last 30 or so years. The cumulative effect of the photos, of an exploration and in some ways a celebration of Latino communities and families, came from the subjects chosen by the children themselves.

Dr. Refugio Rochin, director of the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives and his staff selected the 55 photos for the exhibition from a pool of approximately 300 winning entries of the Young Americanos photo competition, sponsored by Farmers Insurance and held in Chicago, Indianapolis, San Antonio and Los Angeles. Entries from the Washington, D.C. area were also considered and included in the exhibition. The Latino Initiatives staff looked for excellence in all measures of photography, including composition and creativity.

The aspiring photographers are as young as Sabrina Saenz, a second grader in San Antonio, who took a picture of her father and little sister on horseback. Rudy Bonilla, also in the second grade, took a photo of a Spanish mission. Deanna Varas, a fourth grader from Los Angeles, captured the beauty of a sunset. Here is a sample:

	Photographer Alyssa Fry is a 10th grader from San Antonio, Texas.
Photographer Anna Galdeano attends San Antonio College.	Photographer Elizabeth Solis is a 12th grader from Chicago, Illinios.
Photographer Duy Tran participates in the West Teen Photo Project in Arlington, Virginia.	Photographer Freddie D. Mendoza is a 9th grader in Los Angeles, California.

Young Americanos: Photographic Visions of Our Community is on view at the Smithsonian Institution's Arts & Industries Building in Washington, D.C. through November 15, 2001. Plans are being developed to exhibit Young Americanos in a number of Latino communities. Check the Latino Initiatives Web site for details.

Resources:

• Young Americanos photo competition
• The Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives

Cecilia Garcia directs Connect for Kids.